


Rays of Hope

by Siver



Category: Final Fantasy VI
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-12
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2020-10-20 06:22:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20670761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siver/pseuds/Siver
Summary: Not everything can be so simple. A night in Mobliz and a talk while Terra wrestles with her feelings.





	Rays of Hope

**Author's Note:**

  * For [flonnebonne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flonnebonne/gifts).

> Because Celes and Terra always need attention. And Terra needed more than just being ditched in bed after the first Mobliz visit.

They would leave in the morning, but they both needed rest and Celes had concerns of her own, concern for one at any rate, keeping her here and so she and Sabin agreed to stay the night in Mobliz. She stepped past the children, some smiling at her while others remained wary. To her relief Terra sat in a chair by the hearth; she was upright now after the fight with Phunbaba. It was a small comfort and Celes had learned to take what comforts she could in this ravaged world of theirs.

She hesitated at the room’s entrance. The fire was dying, a last lick of flame lapping feebly over the wood, yet Terra gave it no notice, appearing distant. Celes had seen Terra from afar in the Empire from time to time. Some of those times, she looked as distant as she did now—distant and vacant. Celes had tried to focus on her own duties and think little of the Empire's deeper doings and their choices in weapons.

When she met Terra again in Narshe she thought once more of those hollow eyes and found herself relieved to see light and innocence instead. Pity neither had any place there.

Now, as Celes drew closer she saw none of the emptiness here either, only deep thought and that was good. She knelt beside the hearth to breathe a spark of magic into it and set the flame to blazing merrily once more. She held her hands up to the fire, letting its warmth chase away the chill her search around Mobliz brought—as far as she could be certain they were safe for now. She'd heard the talk and rumours from the soldiers that it was ice that flowed through her veins. She had an affinity for ice it was true, but the heat in this cold world was more welcome now.

"Am I doing the right thing?" Terra suddenly asked.

Celes rocked back to sit on the floor, one knee drawn up and tried to contain her surprise. She wasn't certain Terra had even realized she was here.

"That's your choice to make," Celes replied.

"Is it?"

Celes eyed her and Terra's gaze dropped to her hands twisting in her lap. "I'm not sure I know how," she said quietly.

No, Celes supposed she would find it alien. Enslaved by the Empire, swayed by the Returners. Oh, no doubt the Returners worked with all the best intentions, but she wondered how much choice there ever really was.

"Everything feels wrong, but everything feels right too," Terra continued. "The children need me. I think I've done them good. Staying in light of that seems the right thing to do. Yet, to stay means leaving all of you and leaving the rest of the world in danger." Her hands clenched. "In danger from _him_. Now it feels wrong to stay, but I feel like I'd only be a burden to you all and I would be abandoning the children and so it's wrong to leave. But what use am I like this to them anyway?"

Celes stared into the fire and spoke slowly trying to find the words. "Fights are won with more than swords. Not everyone can be a sword. I set out to find everyone. I think... we're at our best together. People acting and supporting one another in whatever ways they can. You looked happy when we arrived and the children seem to love you. You can protect them in ways some of us can't. Be their light in the darkness here to keep them safe or out there to fight for their future. There is no right or wrong. There just is."

Terra looked away from her hands to catch Celes’s gaze. "Do you remember when I asked if you'd loved before?"

Celes’s mouth opened. How could she forget? She'd been taken aback, even scoffed at the notion and it had hardly been the time for such talk while they marched to the snowfields. "Yes..." she said hesitantly.

“I didn’t understand it, but I thought I wanted it.” She gave a small smile. “I still don’t think I understand it, but I do want it. When I see their smiles I smile. When one of them comes to me for comfort I want to do everything I can to ease their pain. It hurts and it’s joyous and all I know is that I can’t lose this.”

“There are no certainties in this world,” Celes said flatly. Terra’s eyes widened and Celes shook her head. “One route is no more guaranteed than the other. Whether you come or stay we may win or lose. That’s just the way a fight goes. All we have is…” She almost laughed in a bitter sort of amusement. It seemed a foolish concept in the Empire, yet it was what drove her from the island. It drove her across the barren flattened wastes she couldn’t believe she once knew from Albrook to Tzen and from Tzen to here. It was what kept their world struggling on. “Hope.”

Terra smiled sadly. “I was supposed to be a ray of hope.”

“I think you still are,” Celes said and rose to her feet. “For them.”

“Then you think—.”

“I told you I can’t make this choice. We’re leaving in the morning. I’m going to make a last patrol, but I’ll see you then.”

“I… thank you.”

Celes felt a pang of guilt at leaving so abruptly, but what more could she say? Terra was going in circles and while she didn’t blame her, they didn’t have that luxury either. A part of her was tempted to leave in the night before she shut it down. She wouldn’t make that choice for her and she stood by that decision. This was something Terra had to do by herself and Celes suspected she knew what she really wanted. They would simply have to wait until morning and so she followed up on her excuse and made a last circle around the ruined village.

The next morning Terra met them at Mobliz’s exit. Eyes blazing with a sudden determination she told them her intentions to stay. Celes only nodded. She suspected as much, and she was only glad to see her firm in her decision. Sabin waited at the gate with their chocobos, but Terra caught Celes’s hand as she started to leave.

“I’m sorry. You said you wanted to find everyone, and I—.”

“I did find you. The others have to be out there too.”

“I’m sure they are.”

Celes briefly covered Terra’s hand with her own. “We will return when we can. Stay safe for us.”

“And you.” Terra smiled shyly. “You’re our hope too.”

Celes blinked and stepped away. There were no more words to be said and a simple exchange of nods sufficed. Goodbyes had no place here. They would see each other again.

As Celes rejoined Sabin and they stepped into their next path, she fixed her gaze on the horizon. A new thread of hope wove around her heart. Two were found. The others waited.


End file.
